HOME Syllabus contents: Course Description Grading Policy Required Readings Library Reserves	Women Studies/AES 322, Spring 2006 Race, Class, and Gender
	Syllabus [download paper copy] Instructor: Sasha Welland [website] Office: Denny Hall 430 Office Hours: Th 2:00-3:30 pm or by appt. Email: swelland@u.washington.edu Teaching Assistant: Kristy Leissle Office: Padelford B-111 Office Hours: T 1:30-3:30 Email: kleissle@u.washington.edu Class Meeting Times and Location: M&W 1:30-3:20 / Smith Hall 102 Class Email: women322a_sp06@u.washington.edu Class EPost Discussion Board
	Course Description This course explores the intersections of race, class, and gender as political and theoretical categories loaded with power. We will study historical and contemporary articulations of these categories in relation to social inequality. Doing so will require us to examine various dimensions of race, class, and gender, including: how they assign people to different bodies; how they are contested and/or claimed as forms of personal identity; how material inequalities are created and maintained through them; and how they are socio-cultural formations around which groups mobilize for collective action. The first part of the course will introduce students to critical concepts and theories for examining these categories. In the second part of the course, our focus will shift toward methodological questions. We will explore the ways various thinkers ground theoretical concepts in specific social locations, experiences, and calls for change. The assignments are designed to enable students to likewise extend and apply their knowledge as each class participant builds toward a final project investigating race, class, and gender in the Seattle area. The collective efforts of the class will create a layered socio-historical map of Seattle that pushes us to understand how race, class, and gender matter in pressing and everyday ways. Course Goals •    To understand race, class, and gender as historical and changing constructions of difference deeply entangled with social and economic relations. •    To extend analysis of these social categories in the U.S. context to other geographic places and transnational linkages. •    To sharpen critical reading and thinking skills, and to explore a variety of research methodologies, including service learning participant-observation, oral history interpretation, and visual analysis. •    To foster a class environment of respectful dialogue and exchange, in order to collaboratively engage in careful and nuanced thinking about how to effect social change. <-- RETURN TO TOP Grading Policy Each student’s performance will be evaluated as follows: Class Presentation: 15% Critical Reading Exercise: 15% Midterm Exam: 30% Final Project Portfolio Postings (Credit/No-credit): 15%           • Project Description: 5%           • Initial Analysis: 5%           • Response to 2 other projects: 5% Final Paper: 25% See Class Presentations and Exams & Papers pages for more information on the above. PARTICIPATION: Attendance and active participation in class discussions by all students is expected. You are expected to complete the readings by the day they are listed in the syllabus and be prepared to discuss them in depth by raising relevant questions, concerns, insights, and responses. For each class meeting, please have notes written and ready to draw from for the basis of discussion. The following questions will help guide your reading: 1)    What did you find useful about the article? 2)    Did you disagree with anything or find any of the points made debatable? 3)    What points, issues, or terms would you like to discuss or have clarified in        class? 4)    In what ways did the reading connect or conflict with your experience? 5)    What is the main argument? Or, why did the author write this article or                book? CLASS POLICIES: Please inform me in advance if you expect to miss a session, be late, or leave early. Please bring your books to class. No assignments will be accepted by email without permission. No make-up midterm will be given. You cannot pass the class if you do not complete the final project. Papers submitted late without prior permission will be penalized by half a grade for every day.  Plagiarism will be treated as a serious offense; please read the university policy on academic honesty. Practice respect and consideration for your peers. Classes that deal with controversial topics and social/political issues require that all participants listen carefully to what others have to contribute. Please reflect on how to present your opinion in a respectful and open manner. You are under no obligation to agree with the authors or the instructor. Rather, your responsibility is to demonstrate comprehension and effectively articulate and argue your own position. Please feel free to email me or speak with me for further clarification of assignments, if you have questions about the material, or if you have personal concerns that will affect your academic performance. If you are unable to meet during my scheduled office hours, I am happy to arrange an appointment with you in order to discuss an issue at greater length. <-- RETURN TO TOP Required Readings COURSE READER: Available at Rams Copy Center, 4144 University Way (Articles in the reader are indicated with an R in the syllabus.) BOOKS: Available at The University Bookstore Octavia Butler, Kindred Julie Bettie, Women Without Class Aihwa Ong, Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New America <-- RETURN TO TOP Library Reserves (at Odegaard) CLASS TEXTS: Octavia Butler. 1979. Kindred. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. Julie Bettie. 2003. Women Without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press. Aihwa Ong. 2003. Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New America. Berkeley: University of California Press. CLASS FILMS: Sut Jhally. 1996. Race: The Floating Signifier. (62 min.) Taggart Siegel. 1987. Blue Collar and Buddha. (57 min.) <-- RETURN TO TOP
BACK TO TOP Last Updated: 03/31/06	Contact the instructor at: swelland@u.washington.edu